Daughter cells as an important factor in determining the physiological state of yeast populations

Abstract

Cells of Candida utilis grown in a single‐stage chemostat at D = 0.05, 0.1, 0.25, and 0.35 hr^−l were separated into a fraction of scar‐bearing mother cells and a fraction of scar‐free daughter cells. The scar‐free cells were transferred into small batch cultures where the length of the maturation phase, changes in length and width of cells, specific growth rate, and specific rate of RNA and protein synthesis were examined for 5 hr. The daughter cells grown at D = 0.05 hr⁻¹ were very small at the moment of separation from the mother cells (about one‐third of the mother cell). Their maturation phase (in a batch culture), at the beginning of which they attain the specific growth rate approaching the μ_max of the strain used, lasts for 3 hr. On the other hand, daughter cells grown at D = 0.35 hr⁻¹ are almost the same size as the mother cells at the moment of separation. After transfer to a batch culture they begin to bud almost immediately. Similarly, in their other morphological and physiological parameters they differ strikingly from immature daughter cells which are formed at low specific growth rates. The importance of these differences from the point of view of mathematical modeling of growth processes is discussed.